Torte Reform

Birthdays have never been a very big deal to me. Since mine falls just before Christmas, my birthday parties have always been more like seasonal celebrations. People on winter vacation taking time off work and school to enjoy dinners with family and friends were always happy to tack on my happy birthday to their regularly scheduled holiday party. I never minded blending in with all of the other festivities as long as one tradition remained solidly intact- my Carvel ice cream cake. Layers of chocolate and vanilla ice cream and those awesome crunchies...just for me...non-negotiable. Sadly, since moving to the west coast real Carvel ice cream cakes (not just the random ones laying around in your grocery store's freezer) have been harder to come by. I was beginning to give up hope when TWD's Chocolate Banded Ice Cream Torte came to my rescue.Could I really make an ice cream cake to rival those of my youth? Without an ice cream maker no less? You bet your Cookiepuss (random Carvel reference) I can!


This torte was easy and so awesome. While millions of flavor combinations danced in my head, I stuck to Dorie's original recipe for my maiden voyage into ice cream cake making. I was not disappointed. I don't have an 8inch springform so I used a pyrex loaf pan lined with aluminum foil. That made unmolding this baby a cinch and slicing it up was a breeze. All that was missing was the cookie crunchies- I toyed with the idea of adding crushed up chocolate wafers but in the end left them out. Sooo, of course I'm going to have to make this again. That's too bad (hee hee).